A slithery situation
by BambiAmbi
Summary: Harry hadn't felt quite himself since the attack on Mr. Weasley. Nightmares and visions were becoming too much for him to bear but when he thinks things couldn't get any worse, he wakes up one night to a nasty surprise. Transformed into a snake, Harry must find his way back to his friends from an unfamiliar location without revealing himself to his worst all-time enemy, Voldemort.
1. Chapter 1: An odd night indeed

**This is my first Fanfiction so I hope it's alright. Also, I will be using British terms and spellings because that is what I'm most comfortable and familiar with because I am British. :D**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

 **'Thoughts'**

 **"Speech"**

 **" _ParselTongue_** "

* * *

Harry sat on his bed at Grimmauld Place in the darkness of midnight, his back lent heavily against the pillows, refusing to sleep out of fear. The nightmares he'd been having almost every time he slept plagued his mind constantly and the horrible prospect that might come from them was almost too much to bear.

He didn't want to see anyone else being attacked, the vision of Mr Weasley was the final straw and even though Harry on the outside didn't appear to fear the chance of him being possessed by Voldemort, on the inside he was terrified. He didn't want to fall asleep to then wake up and find out one of his nightmares had come true again. Harry also couldn't bear the fear of him being the one that had potentially done it. Ginny had said that she couldn't remember doing things for hours at a time and Harry couldn't risk that happening to him. Plus he couldn't get over the feeling he felt when Dumbledore had met his eyes in his office before apparating to Grimmauld Place. The feeling of a serpent rising inside him, wanting to bite and strike at Dumbledore had felt so strong, and even though Harry and his friends had concluded that he hadn't become a snake and somehow transported to London on the night of the attack, Harry couldn't help but feel like he had, whether it made sense or not.

Harry stared at the opposite wall unfocused through drooping eyes when he suddenly straightened up and woke from his half-asleep state to the sound of what could be best described as a moving Tractor. Harry shook his head to clear some of the drowsiness and peered over the side of the bed to see Ron lying in a crumpled position tangled in blankets, mouth open and snoring. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione all knew he wasn't sleeping well and he suspected they had told Sirius, Mrs Weasley and the twins somewhere shortly after Christmas because now at breakfast, they would all give him a look of worry or anxiousness as he came through the door but they all quickly hide their expressions from him as best as they could. He had also noticed that they had taken to looking after him in a non-direct kind of way. For instance, Ron had taken to making sure Harry slept at night by staying up until Harry fell asleep. However, this was not the case as Ron would always fall asleep before him. He didn't blame him for doing so and besides, Harry would always pretend to be asleep whenever Ron did manage to stay up anyway. Harry didn't want to feel guilty for Ron being tired and without sleep and he also wanted to have the night to himself to sort out his problems, but to do so Ron needed to be asleep.

Pulling his gaze from Ron, Harry's body swayed dangerously and he knew he had to sleep.

'…a little wouldn't hurt,' he thought wearily. His eye's stung and itched with tiredness and his head was pounding slightly which meant his body was becoming desperate to shut off. As Harry buried his head in the pillows, a great wave of relief, warmth and relaxation spread throughout his whole body and within seconds of closing his eyes, he fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

As the boy slept, a powerful presence smiled. True, he had only just become aware of the connection he shared with the boy but he was more than capable of exploiting and using it without much effort.

With this connection, he could not only gain the prophecy but also the boy himself. The anticipation was bursting inside him but he had to push it aside as he didn't want the boy to be disturbed as he slept, probing his mind with such a weak link was going to take time and the last thing he wanted was to get so far and to then be pushed back by the boy regaining consciousness.

He had no main goal for tonight; he just wanted to see how far he could get before the mind rebelled against his efforts but for the moment, he felt none and the boys mind was an open book.

He was about to retreat for tonight when he saw something that took him by surprise, well not really saw but certainly felt. His smile grew; this was not what he expected to find lurking within the boy's mind.

"So, 'The Boy Who Lived' has a dark side. A hidden side," he hissed, his voice just barely reflecting the feeling of excitement within him.

Then, an idea sprang to his head. He had been amusing himself on a book about old magic that he had acquired at the current location he was residing at when he stumbled upon some magic that sparked his interest. The circumstances to which to perform the spell though were highly unlikely and so the practice of the spell was abolished long ago, however with him and the boy connected like they were currently and with the dark presence dormant in his mind, he could perform the spell with amazing results.

When he had made sure the boy was not waking up any time soon, he focused his magic, murmuring the words required for the spell. As the words left his mouth he felt his magic surge and flood into the young boy's mind, infecting it. After a while, he felt the reaction of the spell take hold and he was pushed out of his mind as the boy regained consciousness but he wasn't worried, he had succeeded. Now he just needed to quickly perform a different spell for the plan to be complete.

* * *

Harry awoke to a strange tingling sensation spreading from his chest to the tips of his body. His scar was burning and was probably the cause of his awakening. He wanted to scream but found he couldn't, instead, a strangled sort of groaned left his mouth as he rolled around on the bed. A feeling of being stretched overcame him, pulling on him from his nose to the end of his spine and his limbs became hot and soon completely numb. He felt his body shift and change like every cell was reforming. His breathing and heart rate increased as the feeling intensified. Slowly, his body grew colder, the heat leaving him till he was left feeling freezing.

After what felt like an eternity, his scar reduced in pain and the feeling died down but just when he thought it was over, his hold body lurched forward briefly and it caused him to halt all movement till he knew for sure it had finished.

Harry felt different. His body felt strong, powerful and sleek. On his belly, he felt every rough textured of the sheets and his senses felt honed. He opened his eyes and recoiled slightly at the different colours and shapes clearly visible even in the pitch black darkness. He tried to sit up but found he couldn't move his arms or legs, in fact, he couldn't feel them at all. Curiously, he raised his head to examine his right side and what he found almost made him faint.

The sight he was greeted with was not his arm at all but a long black scaly body. He looked the other side and saw a similar thing and to his horror as he rose higher, he saw his legs too had been replaced by a long black tail.

 _"N-no,"_ he spluttered, _"I-I can't be a snake!"_

* * *

 **Update:**

 **I am in the process of editing this story. Apologies in advance if the story is a little hard to read but I'm working on it...hopefully. This chapter has been edited though.**

 **;)**


	2. Chapter 2: Seeking help

'Thoughts'

"speech"

 _"Parseltough"_

* * *

This had to be a dream, there was no way it was possible. How could he have become a snake?!

Harry stretched and then relaxed watching as his body straightened, then curved. The action in itself was so unnatural, as far as a human was concerned, that he found his brain was having trouble processing it. This might also have been the reason why it took him so long to realise that the sheets beneath him felt different. He looked down and saw they weren't sheets at all but grass. In fact, he wasn't even in his room anymore, let alone at Grimmauld Place. He was outside, on what he assumed was a lawn and as he completed his analysis of the area, he saw a large manor. Tall and proud, it stood like a beacon in the darkness.

Most of the windows were bright with light from inside, despite it being the dead of night. Harry also noticed that a figure was standing at the top of some stone steps that lead to the entrance of the manor. From this distance, Harry couldn't tell who the figure was but he did see a distinct feature that he did recognise and that was that the figure was wearing a long, billowing black cloak. The person was a wizard; they had to be, as fashion sense like that was not common among muggles.

Harry pondered to himself, his body subconsciously wrapping around him loosely as he thought. In the end, he had only one choice, he was going to approach them. He needed help one way or another and he concluded this would be a perfect time to try and gain a wizards trust. They may not know how to turn him back or even know he's not a snake at all, but he might be able to get back to Hogwarts somehow. There he would get the help he really needed.

Harry lowered his head back down to the ground and began to move towards the house. He thought it would be really difficult to move but found it was quite easy and it could, in a way, have been fun, if this situation that he had found himself in hadn't spooked him so much.

As he got closer, his tongue flicked out to taste the air but he froze instantly when he realised he had done it. It took his poor brain a little while to realise that the action had happened through an impulse of new instincts. Serpent instincts.

'Great', he thought dryly, 'Something else I've got to get used to.'

After a moment, he allowed his body to taste the air again but this time, he paid close attention to what the action was telling him. He still didn't know who they were but found their scent…enticing. The closer he got, the more impatient he found himself feeling, till he felt like he _needed_ to be near them and his pace sped up to match his desire.

His head broke through the grass line onto a large gravel path which lined the front of the house. Very slowly, he inched into sight while battling with other new instincts telling him to stay near some form of cover, which the grass had provided for him to some extent before. He felt exposed and vulnerable which was something he didn't like, even as a human. His tongue flicked out again but he detected no threats, just the stranger's powerful scent.

Harry was almost halfway across the path when he heard something that made his whole body immediately drop another couple degrees. A high, cold laugh.

" _You're not Nagini",_ the voice chuckled.

Harry's head shot up, rising high in shock, only for his gaze to lock with the _man's_. Fear trickled slowly into his body as if the mental dam he had created to hold back the cold emotion over the past year had sprung a leak, where it then proceeded to mostly collect like a puddle somewhere halfway down his body, his stomach perhaps.

" _But my, aren't you big, and pretty too…" he_ said, and Harry would have felt disgusted to be called pretty by _him_ if he wasn't mentally paralysed from his emotions, too overwhelmed that _he_ was here, in front of him.

" _Well, aren't you going to say anything…" he_ smiled, crossing his arms in a seemingly casual way.

Harry gulped having no idea what to say, and then something popped into his head, " _you're a speaker?"_ he asked.

He had been asked this question before by many snakes in the past, mostly from lessons back in his _Care Of Magical Creatures_ class, when they were in the forbidden forest. He had tried to ignore them but they had a habit of wrapping around his legs or speaking really loudly so he couldn't concentrate properly. But the same thing they would all say was that he was a speaker, referring to him being a Parselmouth.

The _man_ gave a slight nod, " _I am, but tell me, what brings you here?"_

Again, Harry panicked slightly. He couldn't just truthfully say 'Oh, I teleported here randomly against my will', that would be a complete give away that he was more than just an average snake. " _umm…I'm not sure, you see I'm a bit lost and I was…drawn here by your…scent",_ he said a bit uneasily as he struggled to find the right words. However stupid it sounded to him, his response wasn't a lie, but it wasn't really the truth either, but _he_ didn't have to know that.

The figure chuckled again and began to descend the steps. Harry internally wanted to retreat or maybe attack somehow but he found he couldn't. He remained quite still as the _man_ drew closer and closer and eventually bent down to look more closely at him, his eyes roaming over his long scaly body with a shine of amazement in his red, cat-like eyes.

" _Hmm, do you have anywhere to go?"_ _He_ asked and Harry shook his head slightly. "Would you like somewhere to go?" Harry nodded hesitantly, unsure exactly where this was going.

" _Well, would you like to come with me for the time being? You're quite obviously a magical snake, judging by your high intelligence and those eyes of yours, so I would be more than happy to accept you."_

Harry wanted with all his might to flatly refuse and he opened his mouth to decline indignantly when, to his horror, all that passed his mouth was a soft, " _yes please."_

The snake-like man's smile grew and he held out his arm for Harry to climb, which he did without hesitation and again, against his will. He had no idea what was happening to him but he didn't feel out of control of his own actions, and yet at the same time, he didn't agree with them.

Regardless, however, he was now resting quite comfortably on the shoulders of the Dark Lord himself, Lord Voldemort, a _man_ who would have normally killed him on the spot, if only he had known the truth.

When Voldemort had made sure he was tightly in place, he turned to enter the manor, but before he did, he hissed quietly to him, " _Oh, I almost forgot, what might be your name?"_

Harry picked the first name on the very short list he had thought up in those brief seconds, " _Scales"._

" _Well, nice to meet you Scales. I am Lord Voldemort but you may call me Riddle if you so desire"._

At this _,_ Harry almost choked on his own tongue, 'he told me he hated his real name!'

" _Oh and by the way, don't worry about Nagini. I'm sure she won't eat you."_

'Great…' he thought sarcastically, 'not only am I doomed but I could also be eaten by a giant snake. Fantastic!'

As they entered the house, Harry suddenly thought of something. His scar, it wasn't hurting.

Something really weird was happening here and Harry, with every fibre of his new body, didn't like it.

* * *

 **Update:**

 **This chapter has now been edited.**


	3. Chapter 3: Death Eater Party

Harry recoiled as harsh candlelight flooded his vision and hurt his new sensitive eyes. In his effort to escape the direct light, he unknowingly pressed his head into Voldemort's neck. When his vision adjusted, he became aware of what he had done and quickly moved his head away, but he froze in awe when he caught sight of his surroundings.

The front doors had opened to reveal a rather long and ornate hallway with pictures and portraits lining the walls, making it look rather like a gallery. In front of them was another set of steps, which Harry saw as they reached the top, lead into a foyer with spiral staircases leading up to the next floor on either sides. Towards the end on the foyer was another room which Harry guessed, must be hosting a party of some kind. Voices filtered out of the confines of the room, mixed in with the elegant and gentle sound of music. People in expensive looking robes and dresses were either talking or laughing in groups holding dainty wine glasses, or moseying around in pairs or solitude doing nothing in particular.

As Voldemort entered the room, the music and chatter seemed to become slightly quieter but Voldemort didn't seem to notice or just didn't care. He didn't look at anyone as he passed and the crowds parted without a word given.

It then dawned on Harry that the people around him must be Death Eaters, as normal witches and wizards would run for the hills if Voldemort was around, but they just carried on with what they were doing but with a watchful eye always on Voldemort in case something happened. He also noticed that their eyes lingered on him longer than Voldemort. Some eyes widened in fear when they saw him and Harry suspected it wasn't normally a good sign when Voldemort had a snake with him.

As they neared the centre of the room, now clearly a Ballroom, Harry spotted some familiar faces and had a hard time suppressing a growl, which would probably sound like an aggressive hiss to those who didn't understand parseltongue.

The Malfoys, all three of them were conversing with what appeared to be two other families which Harry realised, must have been Crabbe and Goyle's families as they were both present and standing next to a bored looking Draco. As Voldemort neared them, their eyes all snapped towards him and they parted from their loose huddle to greet him.

Draco's father Lucius spoke up first, "Ah My Lord, so glad you decided to remain till the end of the-"

"I'm afraid Lucius, that I will be retiring for tonight. I have more important matters to attend to," and as he said this, Harry felt a cold hand stroke down the portion of his body which was draped over Voldemort's left shoulder, which made him shiver unexpectedly and rise, making it very obvious that he was there.

Lucius eyed Harry with a worried expression and he also noticed Draco was staring at him too, except strangely, there was no fear in his eyes. His eyes held only curiosity, or perhaps was it a look of wonderment?

Voldemort also seeming to notice this, "Do you like him, Draco?", he chuckled and Draco's pale face turned a slight shade of pink, "It seems your son has a fine taste in animals Lucius, and I can't express how important it is that this snake, named Scales, like Nagini, is to have full roam of your house." Harry had suspected this could be the home of the Malfoy's, after all, it was no secret that the family was loaded with wizard gold, but it still came as a small shock to find out that their household looked like this.

"Of course my Lord, anything," he said before giving him a small bow but he still looked very worried. His wife seemed to want to say something about it too but opted to just agree with her husband silently.

"Very good, I'll be taking my leave now", and with a swish of his cloak, he swiftly exited the ballroom without another word.

* * *

Harry slithered off the arm of Voldemort onto a very comfortable and expensive looking rug. True, the rug wasn't overly fluffy or very thick and the king-sized bed looked more appealing but Harry was quite happy to stay on the floor, as the bed was currently being occupied by Voldemort and the thought of sharing the same bed with the murderer who killed his parents among many others, was sickening, to say the least.

Gradually, as he allowed the tension in his body to fade, Harry suddenly became aware of just how tired he really was and for the first time in a long time, nightmares were not the first thing on his mind.

As he wrapped himself around two of the bed's legs, he heard it creak as Voldemort lay down. With a wave of his bone-like wand, all the lights in the room went out and the door shut with a slam and locked. Harry was plunged into darkness, with only the slightly luminous shapes of the furniture in the room and the feeling of the bed legs pressed up to the lower and upper parts of his body to give him any indication of where he was.

With Voldemort seemingly asleep and with his surroundings dark and quiet, it gave Harry the opportunity to think clearly, like most nights allowed him to do these days. He sighed softly as he snuggled down and got comfortable, resting his head on a coil of his body like a pillow.

For the first time since this all happened, he wondered what was happening back at Grimmauld Place. Everyone would most likely be asleep still but he wondered how they would react in the morning.

Sirius would most likely take his disappearance worse than the others. Harry guessed he would probably become quite irritable and aggressive towards most things, but underneath, he would be worried and panicked. He also imagined Mrs Weasley wouldn't take it well either, along with Ron and Hermione. The thought of them worrying about Harry, about _all_ of them worrying, was unbearable.

Another horrible thought was plaguing him too. It was apparent that Voldemort had not realised who he was or that he was anything but a snake, however, Harry knew better than that. There was no way Voldemort was this clueless and the fact that he locked the door meant he didn't fully trust him or, Harry feared, knew the truth but hadn't voiced or acted upon it.

With the mixture of thoughts running through his head, it became much harder to fall asleep but finally, after what felt like hours, Harry fell into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

 **Update: This chapter has been edited.**


	4. Chapter 4: Discovering

Harry woke the next morning feeling more refreshed then he had done in a while. For once, he had not had a single bad or strange dream, which was more than what he needed for a good night's sleep. Harry was so relieved and happy by this, that he found he currently wasn't too bothered that he still had a bit of a snake problem. And besides, it turns out his new body was actually quite a good pillow.

Harry yawned and stretched, uncoiling himself from around the legs of the bed as he did so, to try and make himself feel more awake, but found it was a huge struggle. It was weird, even though he felt refreshed, thanks to his undisturbed sleep, he still felt low on energy and stiff. This stiffness had also made the coldness within him more noticeable and it was only then that Harry remembered that snakes were cold-blooded. _He_ was cold-blooded now, and if he was honest, he didn't like it much. There was something so unsettling about not feeling his own body heat simmer just under his skin and he realised that even though he had taken it for granted like any human naturally would, having it there felt comforting. A lack of it felt wrong, and apparently, it restricted him too.

Harry thought hard, trying to remember what cold-blooded animals did to warm up, and then he remembered. Last year, he, Ron and Hermione had been trying to find information on the Blast-Ended Skrewts for Hagrid. After not finding anything precisely on the Skrewts, they had decided to read up on characteristics of multiple animal types to see if anything were similar between them and the Skrewts. Cold-blooded animals were one of the things they researched and he had read that basking in the sun was something they did to warm up and gain energy.

Harry scanned the room and noticed that the curtains covering the windows were not quite drawn properly and a stream of sunlight was now coming in through the gap. After quickly checking if 'You-know-who' was still asleep, or at least not moving, he slithered over and started to bask.

If he could smile, he would have as he instantly felt better. Harry also became aware of just how big he really was, as he had a hard time positioning his body in such a way that most of it hit the light. Curiously, he turned away from the sun to looked down at his body. He estimated he was around 8 or 9 feet long and it now suddenly made more sense as to why the people in the ballroom last night were scared of him, even he'd be a little scared of a snake as big as him. As he ran his eyes down the length of his black scaly body, he noticed that on the other side of the room there was a full-length mirror propped up against the wall. He basked a little longer before sliding swiftly over to it, to stare at his reflection.

His glistening scales running along the top of his body were as black as his hair had once been. His underside was a creamy grey kind of colour and the transition between his underbelly scales and his black ones was seamless. He had large round eyes that were still a piercing emerald green and around them were even blacker scales that kind of mimicked the look of his glasses. And finally, between his eyes but positioned more above his right eye was his lightning scar, still quite distinct on his head. He stared for quite some time, still trying to come to terms with the fact that this was his form now. For however long he remained this way, this was what he was going to see whenever he looked in a mirror and if he was going to survive this, he needed to accept it sooner or later and not seize up like he was doing now. It was just so difficult at the moment, as this had happened so quickly and so suddenly. It would get easier, it had to.

Shaking himself from his frozen state, he took a deep breath and opened his mouth. As he had expected, the sight he was greeted to was quite terrifying. The inside of his mouth was black and the tone of the soft flesh was even darker than his scales. His long, black and forked tongue rested snuggly on the bottom of his mouth and from the look of it, as he examined the roof of his mouth, he had fangs, big ones.

" _Dendroaspis polylepis_ "

Harry felt a rush of unnatural, yet scarily familiar instincts rise up within him as he quickly spun around into a threatening position. He felt small flaps on either side of his neck fan out and he could also feel his fangs reveal themselves slightly, ready to bite if he needed to, as he opened his mouth wider and hissed slightly. Voldemort had awoken and was staring right at him with a smirk on his face.

" _Now, now. There's no need to get all defensive_ ", he chuckled and Harry forced himself to relax somewhat, suddenly feeling extremely worried about the fact that he had just felt the same instincts that he had felt back in Dumbledors office when their gazes had met.

" _…You startled me_ ", Harry said after a while as he composed himself.

Voldemort laughed, which caused a shiver to run down Harry's spine. " _I can tell!_ "

Harry sighed shakily, " _What did you say? You know, when you startled me_ ", he asked, trying to move the conversation along.

" _Dendroaspis polylepis, that's what you are, or more commonly known as the Black Mamba. Your species is regarded as one of the longest, fastest and deadliest snakes in Africa._ "

" _Wow, someone did their homework_ ", he said, trying his best to hide the pride and awe he felt at realising what he had become from leaking into his voice, but he couldn't deny that being a Black Mamba was amazing.

" _Indeed, but I must warn you that when you meet Nagini, you are not to harm her. You can't kill her but she is very important to me and I would hate to see her in pain. I'd rather keep you then dispose of you but if I am forced too, I will_ ", he said in a slightly lower, more threatening tone and Harry felt a wave of fear wash over him again.

" _Well, Luckily for you and her, I'm not the kind of snake to simply attack without reason. Plus she was here before me and I can respect that but what happens all depends on her. If she attacks me, I will defend myself_ ", he replied, trying to make his tone strong and determined rather then weak and fearful like he currently felt.

Voldemort bowed his head slightly before saying, " _I can respect that as well, I will tell Nagini to play fair and easy with you and warn her of your potential capabilities both biologically and…magically,_ " Harry gulped a little, worried about what that could mean and imply. " _I want the two of you to come to an understanding so we can move past differences and dominance. As for today, I would like you to stay relatively close by, for now, and do what I ask of you if I need it. I want my followers to understand just how dangerous you really are and of your temperament, is that ok?_ " Voldemort had asked this question, but his tone made it seem less like a request and more like an order. Regardless though, his body seemed to make the decision for him before he could issue any sort of resistance to his demands. He, once again, found himself agreeing to his proposal and Harry was beginning to suspect it was linked to his snake transformation. For now, however, Harry had other things on his mind.

Shortly after their exchange, Voldemort had quickly left the room but Harry noticed he had left the doors open. He slithered over and stuck his head out the door into the hallway. He could see the hall more clearly now compared to last night, as the green ornate curtains that lined the hallways had been pulled back from the large windows.

Despite having far bigger things to worry about, Harry couldn't help but feel the rush of adrenaline spark inside him at the prospect of an adventure. He had obviously never been to Malfoy Manor before but had heard plenty about it in the past, which was enough to make him eager to see it for himself. With his decision made up and with nothing else to do at this present time, he ventured out to do some exploration.

* * *

 **A/N: By the way, for those who may not know, the Blast-Ended Skrewts are from the Goblet of Fire book.**

 **Update: This Chapter has been edited.**


	5. Chapter 5: Exploration

Harry slithered into the hallway, staring around and marvelling at how the place clearly reflected the amount of money the family owned, plus the family's history and culture. Everything glittered with cleanliness so that the white walls looked like pure silver. The floor was laminated and heavily polished, and down the centre of all walkways were long green rugs that were soft and pleasant to the touch as he glided across them. After making these observations, Harry presumed that everything in the house must be Slytherin themed in one way or another.

As Harry continued down the hall, he noticed that Voldemorts' room was next to a library which, on further investigation, extended to a library on the bottom floor. As he entered, Harry began scanning the bookshelves for any indication of an order or categories, which could lead him to some answer or solution to his problems. Harry was just about to see if he could climb up when he felt vibrations along the ground heading towards him.

Too curious for his own good, he slid along the ground towards the door. As he rounded the corner a pair of feet stopped right next to him and, as a reflex reaction, he rose up off the ground and extended his neck-flaps to appear bigger, hissing loudly as a warning to his potential attacker to back off. The figure recoiled and stepped back instantly and as he looked up, the face of Draco Malfoy stared down at him.

"Woah! Easy there, easy…" Draco said gently, holding up his hands in front of him in a submitting and harmless gesture.

Harry relaxed and his neck flattened again, but he stayed upright, not trusting what the young Slytherin might do. Draco was awful to him, and even though he was certain he had no idea he was looking at Harry and therefore was in no danger, he still didn't trust him.

"Why were you in the library?" Draco asked, in a tone you might use when talking to a pet or a small child. The very thought that Malfoy saw him in that way frankly annoyed him.

" _None of your business snowflake",_ Harry mumbled, knowing full well Draco couldn't understand him but even his negative tone seemed to be mistranslated.

Draco smiled and bent down to him, "Are you feeling hungry?"

" _Yes",_ Harry said, trying to sound obvious in his tone so Draco would understand his answer, but not too much as he didn't want to sound desperate.

Draco nodded and straightened up, "follow me then."

Malfoy then turned towards the upper foyer, which opened out onto the stairs that spiralled down to the ground floor. Harry noticed as they travelled that every inch of the house was visibly clean and orderly but he soon realised why. About six house elves were all busying themselves with the morning chores, all bowing as Draco passed saying "Good morning young master."

Draco didn't acknowledge them but Harry could see disgust etched on his face. As Harry passed, he attempted to look sympathetic and friendly but by their wide and fearful looks, he had obviously failed miserably. Draco seemed to notice this too and chuckled softly, "You don't want to eat them; they're all dirty and scrawny. Although maybe it might lighten the stench they leave behind after they finish their chores."

In response to this comment, Harry's fangs began pushing down on the bottom of his mouth in response to the agitation that had welled up inside him. He was also trying very hard to suppress the impulse to lash out and bite Draco.

'How dare he say that?!' Harry thought murderously, as memories of when he first met Dobby bubbled to the surface of his mind, 'The house elves can't be given clothes so, of course they smell!' However, these thoughts were put to one side as he descended the stairs, which was a challenge in itself.

The main foyer, now bright with natural light, was beautiful, to say the least, and covered in paintings and moving portraits. Like the house elves, some of them bowed slight or offered morning greetings to Draco as he passed their frames, but they all eyed Harry with concern, which he was quickly growing tired of.

It was a few corners later when he and Draco came to a stop. In front of them were a set of large, wooden double doors. Draco sighed and visibly straightened which Harry found odd, but he soon realised why as the doors opened to reveal the Dining room.

The Dining room was at the front of the house and the windows to the back of the room had a full view of the gardens beyond. The room was, like the rest of the house, decorated with the Slytherin colours and the long table in the centre was polished and made of really rich, dark wood.

The only people sat at the table were Mr and Mrs Malfoy and at the far end of the table was Voldemort. Draco's parents looked up from a copy of the morning's Daily Prophet as their son entered. Voldemort too looked up but his attention was not on Draco, but rather Harry. Harry's attention, however, was on the giant snake that was coiled around the chair legs of Voldemort's seat.

Nagini hissed dangerously, raising her head from the floor as her eyes locked with Harrys'.

Voldemort looked down suspiciously, " _Nagini…"_ he warned.

" _Such a 'small' thing you are…"_ she hissed sinisterly, a hungry gleam in her bright yellow eyes.

Harry and Nagini's gazes never left each other for a good few minutes before Voldemort rose, to the Malfoys great surprise, and stepped between them. He glared down at Nagini before she backed off, rounded the opposite side of the table and left mumbling darkly. Harry stayed perfectly still until she was out of sight, at which point, he lifted his head to stare up at Voldemort.

Voldemort sighed. His wand appeared suddenly in his hand and he lifted it slightly, causing Harry to flinch. The Malfoys had now realised what was happening and were beginning to edge from the room but before they could do anything, Voldemort's eyes snapped up and he spoke out to them, making them jump, "Lucius, summon my followers. I want to speak with them as soon as possible and make sure Severus-", for a split second, Voldemort's eyes flicked away from the family and down towards him, like they were looking for some reaction, which Harry was trying desperately to hide at the mention of his potions master, "-doesn't miss it."

Lucius bowed and hurriedly left the room followed by the rest of the Malfoys. Voldemort did nothing at first which Harry found rather awkward but he jumped a bit as Voldemort flicked his wand to the ground and with a tiny pop, three of the biggest rats Harry had ever seen appeared in front of him.

" _Breakfast…"_ Voldemort hissed but Harry found his hunger was not at the forefront of his mind as a puddle of cold fear, once again, settled in the pit of his stomach, caused by Voldemort. The signs and the hints in Voldemorts actions were starting to point in the direction that Harry's cover of just being a snake was pulled. But if that was the case then why hadn't Voldemort done anything or at least, not said it. Harry was virtually powerless against him even if he had a bad bite now, so what was he waiting for?

With great difficulty, Harry pulled his eye line from Voldemort and down at the rats. They were very big and fat rats and to his horror, he found they looked incredibly delicious. Soon, predatory instincts took over as his hunger overpowered his fear and asserted itself as the dominant feeling in his stomach. After he used his tongue to taste which rat was better, he lunged at the closed rat. As his jaws clamped themselves around his prey, his fangs sank into the flesh of the rat and his deadly venom was injected into the poor animal.

The rat flinched out of his grip with a screech and quickly scurried away, but Harry wasn't worried. He wasn't sure how he knew but he wasn't designed to hold onto his prey, he was meant to wait for it to die or become paralyzed, then eat it.

Using its scent trail, he followed the rat to the other end of the room and saw it had curled up against the wall under the window, obviously dead.

" _Wow, that is strong venom you have…excellent."_ Voldemort turned on his heel to face the door before he continued to speak. "O _nce you have finished, find me and stay close."_ And with that, he began to walk away. As he stepped out the room, the two other hiding rats vanished but the dead one remained.

feeling extremely hungry now, Harry slid over and grabbed the rat in his mouth, beginning to swallow it whole. When he had finished, Harry realised exactly what Voldemort at just said.

'Excellent…what is that supposed to mean?'

* * *

 **Update: This chapter has been edited.**


	6. Chapter 6: Eventful Evening

The morning rolled swiftly into the evening for Harry.

The day had not at all been eventful considering his circumstances, but Voldemort had indeed been serious about him staying close throughout the day and hadn't allowed him to venture further around the house on his own. It was for this reason that Harry was currently lying on a padded window seat within a study room, where Voldemort was currently reading in a plush armchair by a large and ornate fireplace, a pleasantly warm blaze crackling within it.

Harry stared out over the grounds through the window in front of him, watching as the trees swayed and shook in a strong, winter wind that had blown in from the north, rattling the window panes as it attacked the outside of the house. Occasionally, odd spots of rain would pelt the window so forcefully that it sounded like a stone hitting the glass, and Harry was pretty sure there was a storm approaching if the ominous black clouds in the sky were anything to go by. Yes, Harry couldn't deny that he was very glad to be indoors rather than outside at the moment but felt utterly miserable with where that _indoors_ was.

Malfoy Manor was grand, no question about it, but it lacked the one thing Harry wanted in a house. The warm feeling of love only a close family could have, and even though a family most certainly lived here, it seemed to lack the love they should share. Harry wasn't a good judge on this kind of subject, as his real family all hated him, but even a dingy house like Grimmauld Place, with its strange items and questionable past, held love within its walls to a certain degree, thanks to Sirius. But Malfoy Manor was different. The place held a rather tense atmosphere regardless of which part of the house you were in, which didn't help Harry's mood.

He was totally miserable and missed everyone at Grimmauld Place dearly, even if he had only been here a day. He wondered what was going on there, right now, and felt horrible about potentially worrying them. He wondered what _The Order_ might do about his disappearance, would they go looking for him and maybe use some kind of spell to track him. Or would Voldemort hear about his vanishing act first? What would he do?

At this thought, Harry pulled his gaze from the window to look back at the _man_ in question. The Dark Lord had a glazed over look about him as he stared down at the page he was reading, his bony thumb and finger rubbing the corner of the page in preparation to turn it when he finished. From this distance, Harry couldn't tell what the book was titled but guess it was on old, dark magic or something. It was a rather thick book and the pages were yellowed with age.

As if he sensed his gaze, Voldemort looked up, staring into Harry's eyes. A chill ran down Harry's spine and he quickly looked away, as if to hide the fact he had been looking over at him at all. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Voldemort tilting his head slightly and opening his mouth to speak to him, but not before the doors to the study burst open to reveal Mr Malfoy with a worried look on his face.

"Have you ever heard of knocking Lucius?" Voldemort asked sarcastically, placing a hand on one side of his book and closing it with a small thump.

"Sorry m-my lord but I come with urgent news. News from the Order of the Phoenix directly." Mr Malfoy replied breathlessly, obviously recovering from a run he had done to relay the news to Voldemort quicker.

Voldemort straightened up, and so did Harry. Harry had a good idea he knew what this _urgent news_ was but was startled to find out that information had leaked directly from _The Order_ itself and he was willing to bet his Firebolt it was Snape. Who else was close enough to both Dumbledore and Voldemort to share secrets like this?

And right on cue, Mr Molfoy continued, "Snape has reported that Potter had vanished in the early hours of this morning and they are currently in the process of sending out search parties to find him."

There was silence. Then Voldemort rose from his seat, placing the book on a nearby coffee table and dusting off his robes as he did so. "Very well Lucius, are my followers aware of this?"

"No my lord, only Severus, and I. The Death Eaters are currently gathered in the dining room as you requested."

"Very well, I shall tell them myself," and with this, Lucius bowed and moved aside as Voldemort made to leave the room.

" _Come_ Scales," he commanded and Harry sighed, sliding down from his comfortable seat and gliding towards the door, after Voldemort.

Harry had been spoken to like this all day now and at first, he had somewhat disliked and feared the sudden cold shoulder but as the day went on, he found he didn't care. As long as he did what he was told and stayed out of trouble, nothing bad should happen.

" _Do you know who Harry Potter is?"_ Voldemort said suddenly, while they travelled down a hall.

"… _maybe…why?"_

" _I_ _figured since you are a magical snake, you must have known other wizards and so, therefore, you must have heard about Harry Potter."_

Harry could feel Voldemort's gaze on him like a pressure being applied to the top of his head, even if Harry physically wasn't looking at him to confirm it. He figured Riddle must be observing him, which Harry found odd for someone seemingly unaware of anything being different about the human-turned-snake, but also increased his sense of dread at what that could imply, but if he knew he was different, then why hadn't he said or done anything? He mentally shook himself before replying to Voldemort. _"A little, I mean, humans are humans. There all the same to me, or at least, most of them,"_ Harry momentarily paused to pointedly gaze up into Voldemort's terrifying eyes.

Voldemort hummed in agreement before halting at the same set of doors he had seen this morning but did not proceed to venture inside.

" _I must ask Scales, Are you afraid of me?"_

Harry thought for a moment, " _…yes."_ He said, honestly.

Voldemort, at first, just stared down at him. But then the corners of his lips pulled back into a grin and he huffed, blowing air out of his snake-like nose quickly.

" _Good, fear is good,"_ he said simply, before pulling out his wand and waving it lazily to open the doors.

The dining room looked exactly the same as it did this morning, accept every chair along the table was now filled. The faces of witches and wizards all turned as the doors opened and each stood as Voldemort entered.

Voldemort walked around to the head of the table and lightly patted the tables' surface, indicating for Harry to climb on top. It was not an easy task, but using his body and massive length to his advantage, he finally slid securely onto the cold but smooth surface of the table. The many faces, to no surprise, eyed him anxiously and Harry had a hard time suppressing a sigh. Really, he couldn't go anywhere without stares following him, no matter what form he had it seemed. It was then that Harry became aware of another hissing emanating from the room. He peered over the side of the table and he saw the enormous body of Nagini slide past, prowling the room with her predatory yellow eyes.

When Lucius finally reappeared in the room, Voldemort sat and indicated for everyone else to do the same. Harry noticed, as he scanned the faces, that Snape was not among them. There was, however, one empty space at the table but nothing more. Not even a faint scent indicating he was ever here at all.

"Severus is late," Voldemort said.

"Ah yes, Severus had been summoned by Dumbledore for something my lord and expresses his deepest apologies," Lucius answered.

Voldemort tutted and hissed in Parseltongue, "S _ometimes I wonder where that mans' loyalties truly lie."_ Nagini hissed in agreement while Harry, who had been thinking the same thing, remained silent.

"I have gathered you here today on account of three matters, one of which has just been brought to my attention. Harry Potter has gone missing." At this, murmurs broke out over the table.

"Silence! He went missing sometime in the night under suspicious circumstances right under _The Orders_ noses, so I only ask you keep your guard up while he is found."

"The second matter is that of the progress on infiltrating the ministry."

"Your current efforts are not good enough," Voldemort said these words in a deadly whisper, which alarmed Harry greatly and he suspected he wasn't the only one.

"You allowed a member of _the Order_ to slip down into the passages and potentially block access to the door altogether and reveal the reason behind our plans. If it weren't for Nagini and me, it may have happened and all our work would have been for nothing. Arther Weasley lives, however, so extreme care must be taken in our plans, as now _the Order_ will be watching more intently than ever before for our actions."

"This then brings me to my last matter of discussion. The snake you see before you all is a Black Mamba, a magically enhanced breed of Black Mamba to be more exact, with venom so strong, I bet you wouldn't last a few minutes once bitten." A strong chill seemed to run down the backs of the Death Eaters and their faces all turned rather ashen as they wondered where this was going. Harry was wondering the same thing.

"One of you will be punished for failing to warn me of The Orders actions and for not preventing them access…Scales here will decide who that will be."

" _Scales! Bite one of them!"_ Voldemort suddenly yelled, startling Harry completely. Translation of these words also didn't appear to be necessary, as almost as one, every occupant of the table jumped back in their seats, to give themselves some space from Harry, presumably to seem less accessible and less like targets.

Harry panicked and looked around at Voldemort, bewildered.

" _Bite!"_ Voldemort hissed murderously.

" _b-but I-"_

" **Bite!** "

Scared and confused, Harry rose up. He didn't want to bite and resultingly kill anyone, no matter how much he despised these people, but at the same time, he didn't want to face Voldemorts rath, not when he was so helpless and unable to defend himself. He desperately began scanning the various wide-eyed faces, but then he froze, his gaze locking with one face who was very familiar to him, one that he hadn't noticed before now.

Harry felt anger boil up inside him and he hissed savagely, his neck flattened and he opened his mouth wide in an aggressive stance, as he stared daggers at the ratty face before him.

Peter Pettigrew cowered in his seat, sweat beading on his forehead as his whole body shook with fear. Out of all the faces here, he was the one Harry hated the most, apart from Voldemort.

The feeling of a rearing angry serpent inside Harry was back and stronger than ever as he stared at his victim but now that he _was_ the serpent, it was much harder to suppress. If Peter dared to move an itch, Harry would strike and watch as his venom took the traitors life, and he would finally get some revenge for his parent's deaths. Nagini too seemed to share some hatred for Peter as she slid on the ground towards him. She wrapped her massive body around the base of his chair and snapped teasingly at his ankles, which made him whimper pathetically.

Soon though, Harry's patience dropped to zero and he had just pulled back to strike when he was suddenly grabbed roughly by the back of the head. The hand was cold and Harry began to frantically squirm and coil around the person's hand and arm in an attempt to pull himself out of their grip. He yelped as a burning sensation flared up in his scar, which only made him increase his desperate struggle as the pain got worse.

" _Calm down Scales…"_ Voldemort said, his tone somewhat forced, and Harry gradually relaxed, realising just who had grabbed him. As Voldemort's hand released him, the pain faded and he became flat and still on the tabletop once again.

Voldemort breathed out but it didn't seem to be out of relief...no, definitely not relief, but Voldemort was tense and Harry wondered if it had anything to do with his scar hurting. "Now you see what may come of you if you fail to do what I ask," he addressed to the terrified Death Eaters. Peter was white as a sheet, his eyes locked on Harry in utmost terror, which was just how Harry wanted it, for now.

Voldemort then put on a completely neutral face and stood up as though nothing had happened at all. "Now, you are dismissed." and soon enough, they all disapparated, leaving only Voldemort, the two serpents, the Malfoys and Peter, who was still rooted to the spot.

* * *

 **A/N - I'm going to apologise in advance. School is a pain and will most likely prevent me from writing and updating as much as I would have liked so I will get chapters written, edited and posted as quick as I can.**

 **Update: I've edited this chapter now and have changed it ever so slightly.**

 **I hope you like this chapter and the story so** **far.**


	7. Chapter 7: Books and papers

Over the next couple of days, the dreary weather outside had turned into a full-on winter storm. The whole house was dark from morning till night and the wind and rain that beat on the windows echoed throughout the house constantly.

Harry noticed that on a particularly bad day like today, most of the inhabitants of Malfoy Manor remained shut up in their rooms and only ventured into the rest of the house when absolutely necessary. It was like the occupant's attitudes directly mirrored the weather outside; the sun had hardly shown itself during the course of the day, so neither had they. This meant that, with everyone out the way, Harry could research in the library to his heart's content with little fear of being seen.

Plus it meant that there was only a slim chance he would run into Wormtail, despite how badly he wanted to finish what he started. The past few days had been hard for Harry when it came to Wormtail, because for some reason, he hadn't left like the rest of the Death Eaters. Instead, he seemed to have taken up the role of Voldemort's personal servant once again. This meant Harry saw him a lot, as Riddle was still quite reluctant to let him out of his sight. Every time Harry laid eyes on him, that vicious, predatory, serpentine feeling would rise up in Harry, egging him on to attack Wormtail every chance he got. However, despite the numerous opportunities presented to him, Harry never got the chance to act on his feelings, but not for lack of trying.

Every time he tried to get near to Wormtail to bite, Voldemort would stop him, to his great annoyance. At first, Voldemort would merely place himself between him and Wormtail or had simply picked Harry up and moved him to a safe distance. However, his efforts to stop Harry had gradually escalated the more he tried. During his tenth attempt on the second day after the meeting, Voldemort had stomped painfully on the end of Harry's tail, causing every nerve in his body to twinge and spasm. And another time at dinner, Voldemort had actually set his wand on him.

This, Harry thought, was where Voldemort had drawn the line but Harry couldn't understand why he was protecting Wormtail, it wasn't as if he cared about him. This was answered that same dinner when Peter had accidentally knocked over his goblet, spilling the entire contents from within it all over a book Voldemort had been reading, the same thick, ancient looking one from that time in the study. It had been resting on the table at the time and Voldemort had been furious, using the Cruciatus Curse as punishment. Wormtails screams echoed in Harry's head even now, and even with his burning hatred for the man, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him in some small way.

Not wanting the same treatment, Harry had committed himself to stay as far away from Wormtail as much as possible, and on a day like today, it was relatively easy.

Harry traced the row of books with the end of his tail, deciding which one to read next. There were defensive books, spell theory books, Dark arts books, books on potions and elixirs, books all on charms and curses and, so far, Harry had skimmed through at least one of each and unfortunately, he had found nothing. The only thing that made any sense to his situation was that he was in an animagus form. However, after running into this in a book, he found that the steps to turn back had no effect on his form what so ever.

His tail halted on a book about potions and brewing techniques, and he decided to see if it contained anything about a potion that could cause his transformation or reverse it. He twisted his head and wrapped his mouth around a section of the book's spine. With a tug, it came free. After gently lowering himself down, he propped open the book against a stack already on the table and began to flick through the pages. He stopped on a section about transformation potions but was disappointed to find the effects only lasted twenty-four hours at tops and did not always produce perfect results. The only other potion that related to transformations was Polyjuice potion, but he knew that it wasn't meant for animal transformations as Hermione had proved. He groaned as he reached the last page.

After closing the book, his gaze drifted to a clock above the door. To his amazement, it read just past half eleven. With a soft sigh, he slid down from the table and made off towards the door, as the house elves would begin their late night cleaning round before they too went to bed and, personally, he didn't want to be caught by anyone doing something very un-snakelike such as reading.

Harry was just about to turn down the corridor to find an empty bedroom he could curl up in when a faint glow caught his attention. The light was coming from downstairs and a sudden idea crossed his mind. If there were lights on, then there must have been someone downstairs. The doors were locked at night and were opened by the house elves in the morning; it was possible that with someone downstairs and awake, that some of the doors were not yet locked.

Harry had wanted for the opportunity to find that old book Voldemort had been reading. Whatever it contained had greatly intrigued him, so it must have been filled with powerful spells and enchantments. If Harry was to find a cure for his predicament, he would bet anything the answer would be in there.

He glided down the spiral stairs as he followed the candlelight to its source. His excitement grew when he realised the source was coming from the study but as he rounded the door, his eyes fell on a hunched figure; their head resting on a desk that was covered in books and bits of parchment.

It was Draco Malfoy, fast asleep with his mouth open and a quill still held loosely between his fingers. If Harry wasn't so surprised by the scene, he might have laughed, but Draco seemed to have worked himself to exhaustion.

For the first time in his life, Harry felt rather sorry for him and abandoning all thought of the book; he entered the room and climbed onto Draco's desk. Using his head, he nudged Draco gently to try and wake him, and soon enough, Draco sat up and stretched in a slight daze. After rubbing his eyes, his gaze landed on Harry and he smiled.

"Oh, hello there, did you wake me up?" he asked, his hand rubbing the top of Harry's head and he chuckled softly when Harry's forked tongue tickled his hand as he smelt the air.

Draco sighed and looked down at his scattered and slightly crumpled work. "Guess I'm going to have to do the rest in the morning," he mumbled as he rose, making to leave the room. Harry examined some of the papers and to his surprise; they seemed to be essay tasks Harry and the rest of his year hadn't been set, or at least, no one had mentioned it to him. Never had Harry pegged Draco for doing extra homework over the holidays, not even Hermione did extra on holidays, although she didn't really need to, though probably would if she was given the option.

Harry was beginning to see a different light to Draco, one he never expected, but made an attempt to push it aside. He wasn't about to start liking Draco for this and he was still a jerk to Harry and his friends by poking fun at them whenever possible. Harry was sure that if Draco found out he was a snake; he would never hear the end of it at school.

"Scales? Are you coming? I can't leave you down here, the doors will lock as soon as I go upstairs to bed and I would hate to lock you in here all night."

Sighing deeply, Harry followed Draco out the door. Tomorrow, he would search for the book and hopefully get the answers he needed. The sooner he left Malfoy Manor, the better.

* * *

 **Sorry, it's been a while. My computer nearly died on me and I almost lost everything on it including this story but it's ok now and all is, hopefully, fixed.**

 **The next chapter may or may not be put up before Christmas but I hopefully should have it ready before then.**

 **update: I've edited and changed the chapter ever so slightly.**

 **Hope everyone has a good Christmas!**


	8. Chapter 8: The unexpected visitor

When morning broke the next day, Harry was surprised to find out that Voldemort had left mysteriously in the night, along with Nagini. He had found this out when he had overheard Mr Malfoy talking with his wife earlier that morning as they passed the bedroom he had decided to sleep in, as they made their way downstairs for breakfast, he presumed.

Harry had only just woken up when he heard the sound of Mr Malfoy's voice just down the corridor, startling him to attention so suddenly, that it rid him of the drowsy after-effects of sleep at once.

"He's gone for now, but he'll most certainly be back," he heard Mr Malfoy say in a low voice, "there's no doubt about that Narcissa, so what's the problem?"

The shuffling of their feet, that had accompanied them up the hall as they walked, stopped abruptly outside Harry's door, indicating that the Malfoy's had halted just beyond it. He then heard a series of muffled whispers that Harry couldn't make out from his current position, lying on the room's bed that rested against the very back wall furthest from the door. Whatever it was they were talking about, it was clear that they wanted to keep it private, which only made Harry more curious to find out what they were talking about. Silently, Harry slid down from the bed and glided over towards the door. Once there, he laid his head flat to the ground along the gap under the door so he could eavesdrop better on their conversation.

"…Draco came up to bed late last night with that snake beside him, honestly, it's bad enough that we have one snake around, but two! What if it hurts him, Lucius, without its master around to keep it in line?!" Whispered Narcissa, sounding rather harassed. It seemed to Harry, that she'd been holding in her dislike of Harry and Nagini for quite some time, but she had wisely waited for Voldemort to be absent before she spilt her concerns to her husband.

"Well, there's nothing I can do about that, and besides, Draco seems to have taken quite a liking to the black one, and it seems tame enough."

Harry didn't know whether he should feel offended at being called tame, but his wavering attentiveness was brought back into focus when Mr Malfoy continued to speak.

"…and really Narcissa, he shouldn't speak like that about the Dark Lord's pets. Our Lord is a Parselmouth and an extremely powerful Wizard, which means he has more than enough control over his snakes to leave them to their own devices, without them causing unwanted harm. If anything, the assumptions that you're making on what that snake will or will not do, seem as though you are mistrustful in the Dark Lord's strength and judgement, and that, you will probably agree, is more dangerous to our son then anything that snake can do," Lucius said, sharply.

A long and heavy silence followed this statement, and Harry could just imagine Mr Malfoy glaring down at Mrs Malfoy, who was determinately looking at the ground with a troubled expression on her face, until a deep sigh cut through the silence like a knife.

"If you weren't my wife, I'd say you should feel ashamed in yourself." Mr Malfoy's words were harsh, but his tone was significantly gentler compared to how it had been a moment ago. "However, I do understand your concerns, but as long as we don't end up on the wrong side of the Dark Lord, then I can assure you, Draco will be quite safe."

There was another pause, before there then came the sound of shuffling again, as Mr and Mrs Malfoy continued up the passage, the vibrations of their footfalls gradually fading away, as they went.

* * *

It was about midday by the time Harry felt comfortable enough to leave the safety of the empty bedroom. His morning, despite the information he had overheard when he had awoken, had been pretty routine and uneventful. After a short tussle with the curtains that had covered the window in his bedroom, Harry had managed to let the rather weak morning sunlight stream into the room, which had allowed him to bask and gain the energy he needed for the day ahead. This was what he did every morning, partly because he could hardly function without warming himself up, and also because he found he felt extremely relaxed while basking.

If he could have had it his way, he would have stayed curled up in that patch of sunlight all day, but unfortunately for him, his stomach didn't agree.

The snake transformation had changed many things in Harry, many of which he had no choice but to get used to. But there were some things that hadn't really changed about him, that sometimes he wished had, and one of these things was his appetite. Harry only had to eat one rat for his hunger to be satisfied, but he had felt hungry every day of the week so far which, if he remembered correctly, was not always normal for a snake. It was like his required food intake was a mixture between that of a human and a snake. He needed regular feedings, but not a lot of food.

This meant that despite what he wanted, he had to leave his temporary place of sanctuary, to venture into the rest of the house with the other occupants, and brave the fearful or suspicious looks that they all gave him as he passed, or find himself catching sight of Wormtails sneering face that made him burn with anger every time he saw him, or have Draco constantly attempt to pick him up and play with him like a fancy toy or a new puppy. Nope, he could never just hide away all day and pray that help would eventually come to his aid. He couldn't even contemplate running away from Malfoy Manor before he was interrupted by _something_.

However, today was different, and Harry probably would have noticed it even if he hadn't overheard the Malfoys that morning. As he snaked through the many hallways of the manor, along the same route to the dining room that he had taken every day now, he noticed that the house, in general, seemed to be slightly warmer and brighter, which was most definitely a result of Voldemort's absence. He also noticed that the various inhabitants also seemed so much more relaxed. Even Harry's presence among them didn't seem to fill them with as much fear anymore, and Harry enjoyed the softened looks they gave him, despite their expressions still counting as glares, fear and worry. If anything, it seemed as though everyone was trying their very best to ignore him, which was totally ok with Harry.

It was then with a somewhat revived enthusiasm, that Harry became eager to eat something. Due to the fact that everyone had been eyeing him like hawks every time he entered a room, he had been unable to search for that book Voldemort had been reading during daylight hours, and with every door being locked at night, he hadn't been able to look for it and hopefully get it without potentially raising suspicion. But now that everyone was trying to ignore him, he could, in theory, resume his search for the book during the day, uninterrupted. He also figured that with Voldemort gone, no one would be reading the old book and so, no one would know it had been taken. Harry's only fear was that Voldemort may have taken it with him when he had left.

As he neared the Dining room, however, Harry discovered that a day of peace and privacy was still unattainable. Harry had only been a few doors away from the Dining room, when a tattered looking boot stomped down right in front of him, inches from the end of his snout. He flinched back in surprise, an involuntary snarl escaping him as his upper body rose from the ground in a threatening posture, but he froze a second later as something completely unexpected happened.

A feeling of complete calm and relaxation had washed over Harry, and his mind had become foggy and completely uncomprehending of anything going on around him. Through the mist that had formed in his mind, he vaguely recognised it as the effects of the Imperious Curse. The use of the curse had taken him completely by surprise and so, Harry found it a little difficult to resist the effects of the curse, but very slowly, he managed to force his head to look up, only for his eyes to lock with the watery, slightly bloodshot eyes of Wormtail, who was staring down at him with a smug grin on his face. Tucked under his arm was a glass container with holes in the lid, and before Harry could fully break the curse, he was grabbed roughly by the back of the head and stuffed hastily into the container. The curse broke just as the lid closed and in pure outrage, he writhed and wriggled wildly, so much so that Wormtail had a hard time picking up the container without dropping it. Holding the make-shift prison at arm's length, Wormtail carried him away from the direction of the Dining room and into what appeared to be a kitchen.

After lifting him onto a work surface, Wormtail turned to a group of House Elves that were busying themselves around the kitchen and began yelling at them to feed Harry some rats that were scuttling about in another container to the side. Harry felt a fleeting moment of satisfaction as Wormtail gave him a look of revulsion at the thought of Harry feasting on rats. Maybe he felt like he was somewhat of a traitor to them, for allowing them to become Harry's food, as he was very much like one himself after he had remained as one for so long.

When the elves nervously gave their assent to his demands, Wormtail turned on his heel and left swiftly, probably going to find something else he could do to get out of the dangerous job of feeding Harry.

Once Wormtail was out of sight, Harry turned his attention to the group of three House Elves that were all twisting and turning their heads to look around the kitchen, as if trying to find something else they could do that was more important than feeding Harry, but eventually their eyes came to rest on the caged rats, apparently concluding there was nothing else to be done. As they approached him, the wriggling container of rats clutched tightly in one of the elves arms, Harry flattened himself as much as he could with the limited space to appear less threatening. This somewhat calmed them, but they still appeared tense and edged towards him apprehensively. They eventually crowded around the work surface he was on but didn't proceed to do anything further. They all just stared at him like he was about to jump out and eat _them_ instead of the rats and soon, Harry's growing hunger began to eat at his patience. A rather irritated but soft hiss left his mouth as a way of telling them to hurry up, and the House Elves seemed to snap out of the trance that they had put themselves in.

"Go on, you do it," one squeaked as he turned to the one next to him.

"Why can't he do it?" the second elf said, pointing at the one with the rats.

"Me! I'm carrying the container, I don't have enough hands to lift the lid," the third elf argued.

Harry suppressed a laugh as he watched the elves argue; he'd never really seen them do this. Harry had always figured that House Elves did exactly what they were told when they were told, whether they liked it or not. Winky had been a testimony to that when she had gone up to the top box of the stadium for the Quidditch world cup and had sat with Barty Crouch Jr, which Harry hadn't realised was there at the time, despite the fact she hated heights. Of course; there was always Dobby, who was on the opposite side of the spectrum to Winky, as he had wished to be free above anything else, which Winky had despised greatly. And then there was Kreacher, who could forget about him and his strange habits. Harry realised he must have been stupid to think all House Elves acted the same, he'd seen enough already to prove him wrong.

'If only Hermione could have heard his thoughts right now, he'd never hear the end of this from her,' he thought fondly.

Soon, the noise of the arguing elves died away. They may have been silent now, but Harry could tell they were still rather angry with one another, but Harry knew it was only because they were scared and he couldn't blame them for that.

"Fine!" the second hissed, but almost immediately his face softened with worry as he turned his eyes onto Harry. Swallowing nervously, the House Elf raised his trembling hand up, until he had grabbed the lid of Harry's prison. "If I lift the lid, you're feeding it," the second demanded to the first, and the first's frown deepened.

"If it will make you open the container," he said begrudgingly.

And with that, the second breathed in deeply and pulled back the lid. Immediately, they all flinched back, as though they expected Harry to spring out towards them in an instant, but they all blinked in surprise when they realised Harry had done quite the opposite. In fact, Harry lay perfectly still for a moment as he waited for them to calm down, before he slowly lifted himself out of the container and onto the work surface, raising his head out towards them expectantly for food.

The elves all continued to blink mystified at Harry's behaviour before they all turned to look puzzlingly at each other, their heads turned comically to one side, a plain indication of their confusion. Harry mentally rolled his eyes, unable to properly do it as a snake. Did he really look that scary to them?

Wanting to get this over with quickly, Harry leaned forward and nudged the outside of the container softly with his snout, trying to convey to them what he wanted. It seemed to work, as the second proceeded to lift a small door on the top of the cage and the first reached a hand inside, pulling out a rather plump rat by the tail and lifting it out towards him. In no time at all, the rat was clamped tightly in Harry's jaws, as it gradually became still and then completely limp.

Turning his attention away from the House Elves, who were still staring at him with that mystified expression they shared, Harry proceeded to slide off the counter to land on the floor with a soft _thwack_.

By this point, Harry had accepted the fact that his new body preferred rats over toast for breakfast, but he still couldn't get over the fact that he felt uncomfortable eating them with an audience watching him. So, he scanned the kitchen quickly for a place to hide and spotted a big enough gap under a wooden cabinet that stored a selection of different pots and pans on it. He hastily slid under it and immediately began to eat.

It took a few minutes for Harry to swallow the rat completely, and he decided to lie still for a little while after so that his meal could go down somewhat, before he came out from behind the cabinet. He looked towards the door, intending to leave straight away and begin his search of the house for the book, when to his surprise, he saw Draco standing there, watching him with a smile on his face, and a look of fascination shining clearly in his eyes.

"I can never understand why you don't like to eat while others are around. It's almost like your embarrassed or something…" he said, probably more to himself than Harry, before his voice trailed off. There were a few brief moments after he said this, in which Draco seemed to entertain the idea in his mind, before he shook his head slightly and seemed to dismiss the idea, to Harry's great relief.

"I was waiting for you to appear this morning in the Dining room, but you didn't come. I don't know where you go at night. You're rather impossible to find as you could hide almost anywhere, and there are many rooms in this house that I hardly know where to start when it comes to finding you. In the end, I just decided that maybe you weren't coming out today, only for me to then see that rat of servant stuff you into that box and take you away. I was worried that he was going to do something to you, now that You-Know-Who has left, so I followed him," he said before he gave a sharp tut with his tongue. "Lucky he was only feeding you. But if I'm honest, I don't know why I was worried. He doesn't even have the guts to feed you so why did I think he would harm you, he's just a coward."

Draco shot a glare down the hall in the rough direction of where Wormtail had retreated before he returned his gaze back to Harry and flashed him a friendly smile. He then proceeded to bend down, sticking out his arm to Harry. "Come on, climb up; you're staying with me today, as I don't think it's a good idea to leave you on your own with him around," he said, as he patted his shoulder to emphasis his point. "He may be a coward, but that doesn't mean that I believe he will leave you alone. He really hates you, you know. As far as he's concerned, you embarrassed him by making him look weak during the meeting with the Dark Lord. He's been trying to earn back respect from the other Death Eaters for a while now, by serving the Dark Lord faithfully and offering his services to any Death Eater who asks for it. But he believes that you purposefully targeted him so that he would lose the little respect he had, putting him back at square one. Personally, I think the Dark Lord was testing him, and father thinks so too, but he refuses to believe it, saying that there was no reason for the Dark Lord to be testing him as he had already proven his loyalty." Draco rolled his eyes. "Honestly, does the Dark Lord really need an excuse to do anything? He's a powerful and intelligent wizard, there might be any number of reasons why he told you to attack him."

To Draco's ears, Harry's hissing reply must have somehow sounded like an agreement, but really, Harry was thoroughly annoyed.

 _"Reason?! Of course, he needs a reason for his actions and a bloody good one too, for all the pain and misery he causes! Like killing my parents, to name one thing!"_ Harry raged, unable to stop himself.

As Harry tried to calm down, Draco's face slowly fell and Harry saw his arm quiver, like he was contemplating the idea of drawing it away from Harry. Soon he realised why. In his anger, his neck had flattened without him realising it, which made him look like he was in a threat posture.

"Look, let's not talk about this anymore," Draco said nervously, "I have some things to take care of today, so let's get a move on, shall we?"

Harry relaxed, but instead of instantly climbing up Draco's arm, he lifted his head to stare up at him with a look of reluctance. Draco's face morphed back into that friendly smile again and he patted his shoulder once again to indicate that it was fine for him to climb up. Harry couldn't understand it, as for as Draco knew, Harry had just shown Draco a threat posture, which would normally tell anyone else that he was agitated about something and should back away for their own safety, but not Draco. Draco had never seemed to be scared of him. On the contrary, he always seemed to be so delighted by Harry's presence, while everyone else was scared.

 _'Why, Draco? Are you stupid, too curious for you own good or…is it something else?'_

Harry sighed and drew his eyes back down to Draco's outstretched arm. He couldn't deny that Draco had a good point about Wormtail and personally, Harry did want to stay away from him, so he eventually decided that he had nothing to lose. He leaned forward and began wrapping himself around Draco's arm, gradually working his way up until he got to Draco's shoulder. He then began to loosely wrap himself, several times, around Draco's neck, like some kind of scally scarf, till eventually his own length was off the ground and draped over Draco. When he was sure that he wasn't going to fall off anytime soon, and had waited for Draco to adjust to his weight now pressed on his shoulders, he rose his head until it became level with Draco's right ear, so he could grab his attention if it was needed. Sure enough, Draco tilted his head a little towards him, curiously. Harry then gave him a somewhat tentative but obvious nod of his head, as a way of telling him, 'Alright then, off we go.'

Another broad and friendly smile spread across Draco's face before Harry then felt himself lurch forward as Draco began to walk. They made their way out into the hallway and began down a route that Harry had never been down before. They were heading towards the far end of the house, a section that Harry had not yet been able to explore as of yet. This was due to the fact that Voldemort had never let him slither too far way, restricting him to only one section of the house, and even though, over time, Voldemort had allowed Harry to snake about the hallways alone and unmonitored, he had a habit of appearing suddenly when Harry tried to venture away from his usual haunts, to usher him back to where he was allowed to be. It was for this reason that Harry was feeling rather excited, despite the thought of the old book pressing into his thoughts.

'I can find it later,' he thought, unconcernedly.

Then, at that moment, a sudden ringing noise that sounded like an old fashioned bell chime rang magically throughout the house, causing Draco to come to an abrupt halt and turn in the direction of the front door. Harry tightened his coils around Draco for a moment as he was flung and swayed around with Draco's movements, before he loosened again to stare up at Draco's face.

Harry noticed that the young Malfoy's expression looked confused, which indicated to Harry that Draco had no idea that anyone was visiting today. Just down the corridor, the sound of the door opening could be heard, but Draco made no move to go and investigate, like Harry had hoped. Leaning his head in toward Draco, Harry nudged his ear as a way of encouraging him to go. The young Malfoy looked over at him for a moment before it soon swivelled back again.

"Yeah, let's go see who that is…" he mumbled, beginning to walk briskly down the corridor towards the door.

Soon enough, the ornate front doors of Malfoy manor came into view, looking much more bright and splendid then they had done on the night of Harry's arrival because of the low light, and there, standing before them, dripping wet from the rain outside, was none other than his hooked nosed and greasy-haired, least liked teacher, Professor Snape.

Harry's jaw nearly dropped, but he had enough thought to know that that wasn't very snake-like, and wasn't a good thing to do on his first meeting with Snape, as a snake. However, that didn't stop him from thinking, what is Snape doing here?!

"P-professor Snape, Sir, what brings you here?" Malfoy asked, in a tone that clearly stated he was just as surprised as Harry, but greeted him politely none the less.

Snape pulled off his travelling cloak from around his shoulders and proceeded to wave his wand over it lazily. Harry detected with his snake senses that a blast of hot air had issued from the end of his wand, not dissimilar to what Hermione sometimes did when they were cold or had soaking wet robes, and the cloak dried almost instantly. He then turned slightly and threw his travelling cloak to Wormtail, who had evidently opened the doors for Snape as he had been standing beside them before Draco and Harry had arrived, and gave a small cry of surprise as the cloak fell right over his head. Snape watched with obvious distaste as Wormtail struggled to pull the cloak off himself before he straightened up and turned to face Draco.

Snape's expression was as cold and flat as ever, but Harry couldn't deny that there was a faint warmth in his eyes as he gazed at the young Malfoy, which was something he had never seen before at school. "Hello there Draco, d-" but he stopped.

Harry wondered why he was hesitating, but then he realised that Snape's black eyes were now fixed on him, and Harry realised that Snape must have only just noticed him. Draco also seemed to realise this when Harry did, and he began to explain. "Ah, yes. This is Scales. The Dark Lord found him and brought him here. I quite like him. He's very friendly and smart too."

"Hhmm…" was all that Snape responded with.

Snape stared at Harry for a moment, before he squinted at something. Next second, he stepped forward and quickly crossed the distance between him and Draco, his eyes never leaving a point just higher than Harry's eyes.

Harry's scar.

Harry then saw Snape's hand move up in the direction of his head, and he instinctively backed away from it. Harry did not like being petted or stroked, but more importantly, he did not like anyone touching his scar. As the professor's hand drew nearer to him, Harry continued to move away, only for Snape's hand to follow him. Gradually, Harry became more and more agitated, and he began to hiss threateningly as his neck flaps began to flare outwardly. But Snape either didn't notice or didn't care about Harry's warning, as he continued his advances towards Harry's head. Feeling thoroughly annoyed that Harry's wishes were not being understood by Snape, Harry looked up and opened his jaws to display his inky-black mouth menacingly, staring directly into Snape's cold black eyes as he did so, in hope of translating a message of 'back away from me, right now' to him.

As Harry had hoped, Snape froze the moment their eyes met, but what Harry did not expect was for Snape's to widen. As they continued to stare at each other, Draco looking anxiously between them, Harry tried to analyse Snape's expression, and he could have sworn it seemed calculative, as well as unexpectant.

Then suddenly, a door to Harry's left burst open and Lucius Malfoy stepped through. Quickly, Snape snatched his hand away and placed it, with the other, behind his back before he turned to Lucius, who hadn't seemed to have noticed anything.

"Severus! So nice of you to join us at last, I hope you are here for my invitation about coming over for tea." Lucius announced.

Snape gave Lucius the briefest of smiles and began to step casually over to him, ignoring Draco's confusion and Harry's tensed state completely. "Yes Lucius, I hear I have missed much, so I would be grateful if you were to inform me of all that has happened."

"Very well," he agreed.

He was about to gesture for Snape to follow, but he then happened to look past Snape, to see Draco with Harry draped over his shoulders, and his expression immediately turned to anger. "Draco, Take that snake from around your neck at once!"

Draco looked startled by his father's sudden outburst. "B-But father, he isn't hurting me and that servant doesn't like-"

"I don't care, just take it off!" Mr Malfoy snapped.

"I'll take him from you if you don't mind Draco," said Snape suddenly. "He'll be quite safe with me, Lucius."

Mr Malfoy nodded, and before either Harry or Draco could make any kind of protest, Harry was hoisted into the air by cold hands and carried into the next room with Snape, leaving Draco alone in the foyer.

* * *

A few hours later, Harry was lying in a doze, on a side of the sofa in the main front room of the house. The rain had stopped some time ago, and sunlight was now streaming in through the windows. A particularly strong beam had fallen over Harry and he contently lay there, trying to ignore Snape, who was sat right next to him on the sofa.

Snape and Lucius, to Harry's disappointment, were not talking about anything particularly interesting or new to Harry on Voldemort like he had originally hoped. At first, the conversation had concerned the meeting that Voldemort had held, which Harry had been present for but Snape had not. The topic of the conversation had then descended into offerings of tea, discussions on Draco's schooling, work, and then most recently, the weather, all of which were not remotely interesting or new to Harry.

Harry was just on the verge of letting sleep take over him completely when their conversation shifted once again, but this time, it caught Harry's attention at once.

"So do tell me, Severus, Is it really true that Potter has gone missing?" asked Lucius.

"Of course it is Lucius," Snape said shortly, "All of Dumbledores allies are going mad with worry, not to mention are thoroughly stumped as to why or how he has disappeared. Even Dumbledore himself hasn't figured out where he is yet. All that was left of him on the night of his disappearance was a pile of clothes and his wand. Even his glasses were among the pile and Potter is as blind as a bat without them," He concluded before he pressed his half-empty teacup to his lips, which failed to hide the frown that had appeared on his face when the topic had changed to the matter of Harry.

"His clothes and glasses…? And even his wand…but that doesn't make any sense, unless he was running away but I never thought of Potter as the cowardly type. Quite the opposite actually."

"I know that Lucius, try telling us something we don't know," Snape said curtly.

Snape did not say anything else like Harry thought he would. Harry had expected him to make some comment about how Harry was probably out there doing something stupid and arrogant, or even mention how he was just like his father, doing something like disappearing to become the centre of attention or something. But no, Snape made no further comment and only brought the now empty teacup down onto the coffee table in front of him. Maybe Snape only complained about him and Harry's father around himself and Dumbledore. _'How unfair'_.

"You don't think Sirius Black has anything to do with it, do you?" Mr Malfoy said which took Harry completely by surprise, and his head rose up quickly to stare at Lucius anxiously, completely missing the way Snape's eyes darted towards him.

"Sirius Black? What's he got to do with this?" Snape asked, curiously.

Lucius smirked, "I saw him, on platform 9¾ when the train set off for Hogwarts in September. He had transformed himself into a dog and was running up the platform after the train. My guess is that he was there because of Potter. After all, he is his Godfather, and I don't believe for a second that he would stray too far away from him, despite what the auror's at the ministry are saying." He paused for a moment as he brought his teacup up to his lips to take a swig of his tea. "My guess is that he has been in London somewhere all along, giving out false trails or bribing people to spread false rumours, to make it seem like he's still on the move."

"Then why haven't you told the ministry this?" Snape asked.

"Because I have no real proof, and bribing can only take me so far. Black is an unregistered Animagus, so telling the auror's that he is an Animagus would lead to a lot of unwanted questions that I just can't answer," Lucius said grumpily, and Snape nodded in agreement.

Despite the relief that Mr Malfoy could do nothing with his knowledge of Sirius's animagus form, Harry's heart was still pumping wildly with panic. He knew about Sirius, and what's more, Lucius suspected Sirius was in London, which of course, Harry knew he was.

The worst part about it was that, if Lucius knew, then Harry had every right to believe Voldemort knew as well, and Harry wondered, not for the first time, what would have happened if Lucius had captured Sirius right there on the platform and hauled him back to the ministry, or even Voldemort. Either way, it would be a death sentence for Sirius.

 _'What if he risked coming outside again?! Maybe looking for me,'_ Harry thought worriedly.

Harry was so wrapped up in his own thoughts, that he nearly missed Snape speak again.

"Where did this snake come from, Lucius? Draco told me the Dark Lord found it, but where exactly?" he asked, curiously, and Harry saw out of the corner of his eye, that Snape was eyeing him suspiciously.

Lucius shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine Severus, I haven't got the foggiest. The Dark Lord left the late Christmas party I held for a good hour before he returned with it wrapped around his shoulders."

Harry then flinched suddenly. Without him realising, Snape had brought a hand up to his head again, but this time, he had managed to press his thumb directly over his scar. When the thumb ran down it, his nail digging into the indentation as he traced its exact shape, an uncomfortable tingling sensation spread down Harry's body and he moved away quickly, hissing his disapproval. There was a pause in which Snape seemed to ponder something, until he asked, "When did he leave the party?"

Lucius shrugged again, having not noticed Snape's actions because he had been pouring more tea for himself. "Hmm, I don't know…about midnight I think."

And then, it happened. Harry suddenly realised what was happening, but he could hardly believe it was. Snape was working it out, or at least, that's what it looked like.

After making sure that Lucius was still occupied over the milk and sugar for his tea, Harry leaned forward and firmly pressed his head into Snape's still outstretched palm, making sure to run every inch of his scar over it, ignoring how wrong and uncomfortable it felt to do so.

During this time, Snape did not move but neither did he do anything else to try and prove what Harry hoped he was thinking.

And then, Harry remembered the way Snape had looked when their eyes had met back in the foyer. He also remembered the many instances over the years, when Snape seemed to know what Harry was thinking like he could read his mind.

 _'Please, please,'_ he thought desperately. _'Please, let this work.'_

Harry drew away from Snape's palm and looked up, straight into Snape's eyes. Once again, Harry noticed the peculiar expression appear on Snape's face as their eye's met, and Harry felt his sense of hope rise.

 _'Please!'_ He thought, urgently. _'It's me, It's Harry. I've been turned into a snake!'_

Harry was so desperate for Snape to understand that he had begun to speak the words that he was trying to project without realising it. His hissing was soft but sounded just as urgent as his thoughts did.

And then, after a few agonizing moments of staring, Snape suddenly got to his feet. "I'm so sorry Lucius, but I'm afraid I will have to cut my visit here," He said as he brushed himself down.

Lucius blinked, surprised at Snape's abruptness, and was totally oblivious to the exchange that had just happened between him and Harry. "So soon…?"

"Yes, I am sorry but…" his gaze went to Harry's again, and hope flared like a fire in his veins when he thought he could see recognition in his gaze.

"I've just remembered that I have some errands to run for Dumbledore and I would very much prefer to get them out of the way so that I can relax for the evening. This term has not been easy at the school, as I'm sure you can understand, and with the new term starting soon, I want to grab all the relaxation that I can while I still have it."

"Yes, indeed. Of course, I understand Severus." Lucius said, rising politely as Snape strode past Harry and towards the door, where his travelling cloak had been hung on a peg behind the door, brought in by Wormtail some time ago.

"Thank you again, Lucius. I enjoyed this evening, and I very much appreciate you getting me up to speed with recent events," he said, swinging his clock around him with a flurry. "But," he said and his gaze once again darted over to meet Harry's, who was still gazing at him, hopefully. "Dumbledore is waiting for me."

* * *

 **Sorry about the late update but this chapter was so difficult to write for some reason. I restarted it several times before it sounded reasonably ok, and so, I just went with it.**

 **Updates might be rather late because of mock exams coming up and also I'm beginning to write another story which I plan to either post after I finish this one or reach a point in which I can start to evenly write both. I've planned most of it out and it is going to be a rather long story but hopefully a good one.**

 **Hope you guys liked this chapter :D**

 **Update (28/07/19):**

 **I've edited this chapter and added a few things. Edits are slow but I'm getting there. :)**


	9. Chapter 9: Understanding

Harry wasn't sure he liked this part of Malfoy manor much. It was damp, cold and dark with stone floors and walls but he supposed that was all he should expect for a basement. There were a few boxes and crates stacked in the corner but, other than that, the room was virtually empty. In fact, it reminded Harry less of a basement but rather a dungeon.

Harry had found the place almost by accident. After his strange encounter with Snape, he went to find out where Draco had got to and discovered a dark passageway somewhere towards the back of the house. Under normal circumstances, he might not have entered but when he had tasted the air with his tongue, he realised Draco's scent was coming from it. After tentatively sliding down the steep steps, he found Draco hunched over a bubbling cauldron, a book out in front of him as his eyes ran over the words.

Draco was so focused, to Harry's surprise, that he didn't even register he was there, so when Harry brushed his leg as he slid by, he jumped and almost stepped on him.

" _Hey!_ " he hissed as he reared back, just in time before Draco's shoe crashed down where he had just been.

Draco looked down in surprise, "Oh! Sorry Scales but you shouldn't sneak up on me like that; I could have really hurt you".

" _Funny, coming from you"_ Harry chuckled to himself before turning his attention to the book Draco was reading.

It was open on swelling solutions and Harry tried to stifle a laugh as he recalled the time they tried to do this in class and failed miserably. Draco looked down quizzically as he heard the snake make a funny hissing noise that sounded vaguely like a laugh.

"Are you laughing?" He asked and Harry looked up but only envisioned Draco with a giant nose and so burst into laughter again.

Draco looked between the snake, the cauldron and then the book as if trying to find a reason for the snake's amusement and when Harry finally calmed himself down enough to look Draco in the face, he saw he was scowling.

"Think it's funny that I have to revise on something as simple as a swelling solution, do you?" He said furiously and Harry flinched at his tone of voice. It had been a long time since Draco had spoken to him in such a way. "It's not my fault that during the lesson, someone threw a firework in Goyle's cauldron and made my nose swell to the size of a melon! I blame _Potter_ for that and so did Professor Snape but, predictably, there was no real evidence so he got off it with no punishment. Typical!" Draco ranted and Harry had to hide under the table the cauldron was on just to get away from the blonds stomping feet.

Draco panted hard; the adrenalin from his rant slowly leaving his system till he had calmed down but Harry did not come out. His snake instincts were telling him to stay as still and as quiet as possible till the danger had passed. After a minute, Harry saw Draco get down on his hands and knees to peer under the table. As their eyes met, Harry wrapped tightly around himself and buried his head in his coils. He felt so vulnerable, more so than he had ever been in his life, with the now much bigger Slytherin staring at him.

There was silence before Draco's voice, more soft and tender than before, spoke out. "Scales, Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout at you," But Harry remained in the same position, not trusting his tone of voice.

"Scales, please come out, I didn't mean-I didn't…" he stuttered, trying to find the right words to say but nothing come out.

Harry heard him sigh and he peered over his coils slightly to see the young Malfoy slump into a sitting position on the hard stone floor, staring up at the ceiling.

Silence passed over them, only disturbed by the dripping of water from cracks in the ceiling as they hit the floor and the distant voices of the people above. Soon, Draco's eyes close and Harry thought he might burst into tears from the expression on his face. Unable to stop himself and think rationally, he slid over his coils towards Draco and nudged his hand with his snout. The boy looked down and lifted his hand to allow the snake to run his scally head along his palm. Soon his hand ran down the rest of his body as it unwrapped and stretched. Harry wasn't a fan of being petted because it made him feel like a pet, but he knew Draco liked the feeling of his scales, and so, allowed it this one time to cheer him up.

Draco smiled, propping himself up as Harry came to rest his head on his chest, the same hand now gently running over the top of Harry's head and, thankfully, avoiding his scar. Harry tried his best not to feel awkward as he lay on Draco. He kept telling himself it was to warm himself up, which was not entirely a lie either as the basement floor was very cold and his underbelly didn't have as thicker scales to preserve his heat. He also couldn't help but feel relaxed as Draco rubbed his head. It was like someone running their hands through his hair and, even though he didn't have hair or an exposed scalp, it was still equally relaxing.

Draco sighed contently and resumed staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought until he spoke once again. "I'm sorry I shouted. You probably don't even know why I'm angry or the reason behind the swelling solution. I'm just so frustrated with everything, you know, with OWL's coming up soon and all. Father tells me anything could come up, and so, he asked Professor Snape to give me extra tasks and homework which is not how I wanted to spend my holiday. I'm also frustrated because I know lots of people like _Harry Potter_ and _Hermione Granger_ that don't need to revise and are probably having a good time somewhere at moment. Even _Ron Weasley_ I bet is having a good time even if his family is beyond poor. And here I am, stuck doing work on a holiday because father thinks I will fail my exams. He doesn't even try to hide it!"

Ignoring the way he said he and his friend's names, Harry could almost feel how tired and frustrated Draco was and genuinely felt sorry for him. Now that he was closer to Draco, he could see the dark shadows under his eyes and the lines of tiredness on his face that shouldn't be there at his age and realised that him falling asleep from overwork, like that time in the study, must have happened more than once since he came home from school. Harry wanted to say to Draco how wrong he was, how Harry was not prepared or even vaguely ready for him OWL's, but he couldn't.

Draco could not understand parseltongue and so hissing made no sense to him. As a way of conveying some reassurance, he lifted his head and nudged his neck which caused Draco to recoil with laughter.

"Stop that, I'm ticklish" he laughed, trying to push the snake gently away.

" _Oh really_ ," Harry said mischievously, and worked the end of his tail around Draco's guarding hand and used it to brush over his neck.

The young Malfoy kicked and rolled around in fits of laughter as the snake tickled him mercilessly. It was not until a violent spluttering and hissing met their ears did they stop.

The solution had boiled over and was now spilling over the side as large plumes of steam and smoke billowed out the top. Harry was pushed off as the Malfoy stood to tend to the burning potion. He reached for his dragon-hide gloves that were to the side of the cauldron and pulled them on before tackling the mess.

Harry didn't stay long, partly because he didn't want swelling solution fired at him and because the floor was still freezing.

When he made it back upstairs, he saw that the room was bathed in an orange glow, indicating the sun was setting and it was getting late. Harry mentally crossed off another day at Malfoy Manor and wondered how much longer he would stay there. Draco's mention of his friends had reminded him of just how much he missed them and how desperate he was to get away from here and more importantly, Voldemort.

Maybe Snape really had figured it out. He could only hope, but even then, it would still be difficult to retrieve him without proof and that could be dangerous, for them and him. All he could hope for was that help was on the way in some shape or form.

* * *

 **I just want to clear something up. There is nothing between Draco and Harry in this. I want to keep the characters as true to there real selves as I possibly can.** **However, having said that, they are going to have a better understanding of one another but more of** **that will come into play later.**

 **Hoped this chapter is alright as I wrote it in a bit of a hurry, but its readable ( I hope ) so that's ok.**

 **Next chapter might take some time so I don't know when it will be up but, hopefully, soon.**


	10. Chapter 10: Fire escape

Harry awoke with a start. The room around him was almost pitch black except for a streak of silver moonlight that shone from a crack in the curtains. Outside, the distant sounds of crickets and nocturnal animals could be heard from the ground below, but for the most part, everything was still and quiet, yet, something had stirred Harry. He listened but heard nothing, nothing out of the ordinary.

He sighed after a few minutes of fruitless listening and began to settle himself once again when he heard it. The faint sound of banging and the district noise of something scrapping on the laminated floors downstairs. It sounded an awful lot like scrabbling and Harry wondered what was going on. He wondered if it was a Death Eater, carrying his latest victim off to be tortured or perhaps someone breaking in if it were possible.

Driven by curiosity, he slid down from the bed and made towards the door. The door was ajar so Harry nudged it with his snout. It swung open to reveal the darkened hallway beyond.

Harry honed his senses; he could clearly make out the luminous edges of furniture and obstacles in his path and navigated around them with excellent grace. Using his tongue, he detected a scent in the air. It was rather close and completely foreign which worried him because it meant he had no idea who it was or if they were friend or foe.

He soon came to one of the spiral staircases and his vision changed to its normal view. An emerald green light was shimmering from the bottom floor and Harry felt a sense of foreboding clench his heart. He edged his way down the stairs, being mindful of any steps that might creak under his weight. Soon he reached the bottom and slumped onto the cold foyer floor.

He followed the light to where it was most intense and felt a sense of deja-vu as he came to the study, its door wide open. He noticed on the opposite wall that the light was flicking like fire and as he crept around the door, he saw a green flame burning brilliantly in the fireplace. Harry recognises it instantly as the reaction of fire and Floo powder.

Harry slowly entered the room, the scent now undoubtedly emanating from the study. He scanned around, scrutinizing ever outline and shape in case it was a person but he saw nothing. The scent seemed to lead nowhere so Harry decided to examine the fireplace.

He slithered forward to rest in front of the hearth and instantly relaxed in the warmth that leaked from the flames but soon snapped back to reality, realising his opportunity. He didn't know how the Floo network would react to parseltongue but Harry was willing to try. These flames signalled a way out and he was not going to waste it.

He inched onto the hearth and had just got is head in the flames when a tight pressure was applied to the end of his tail. He recoiled around and saw two figures, dressed in black and one holding a sack behind him. Harry hissed loudly, showing off his fangs and flattening his neck while rising to appear threatening. Harry had no intention of actually biting the strangers as he knew one nip from his fangs was deadly but he couldn't let the person know that.

The figure flinched in surprise and their grip on Harry's tail slackened as the other came around him, the sack raised. Harry seized his opportunity and dived out of the way of the sack as it was flung down on him. He pulled his large body closer to him while he bolted towards the back of the room and crammed himself under a bookcase. It was not an easy fit, but soon, Harry was completely hidden and he hoped his black coloured body had blended in enough with the darkness, still present somewhat in the room, to cover his retreat. Harry stared at the intruders as they twisted and turned in all direction to see where he had gone and to his relief, it seemed his escape had worked and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Great, we lost it…" Harry's eyes widening at the whispering voice he had just heard. He knew that voice.

"Patience, it when off over there," the one with the sack said, pointing his free hand over in Harry's direction. His voice was one he recognised too.

"If you say so but we can't make too much more noise" the first one groaned in frustration, "I can't believe I got my foot stuck in the fireplace when we came through…"

"Don't dwell on that now Tonks; we have to find that snake. It's the only lead we have on Harry."

Tonks, it was clear now. The first voice defiantly belonged to Nymphadora Tonks. Harry racked his brain, trying to think who the second voice was but the name wouldn't come.

He watched as the second figure crept forwards until his foot became level with Harry's hiding place. He took the chance to take in their scent properly. He could smell the wild rippling off him, a beast lurking just beneath his skin, a wolf.

" _Remus!"_ he screamed in the utmost joy at one of the people he craved to see the most but that joy was short lived.

A hand grabbed Harry firmly around the middle and he was roughly pulled from his hiding place. Before he knew what was going on, the sack was flung over him and he was plunged into darkness.

" _Ah!"_ he yelped as he was tipped back against the bottom of the sack, his body falling over him and he squirmed around to get approve his many coils. Harry had no idea what was up or down and his only focus point was the blurred light of the emerald flames that seemed to grow larger as Remus move towards them.

"How did you find it?" he heard Tonks ask to the right of him.

"I heard it" Remus replied, his tone confused, "it made it easy, hissing as loud as it did."

Harry tried to relax as much as he could. Soon this whole nightmare would be over, or at least, the Malfoy manor part of the nightmare. The next tricky part would be getting everyone to believe he was Harry but he would worry about that late. Soon he would be with Sirius, Weasleys and Hermione again and that was all he needed right now.

Unfortunately, life was never that simple.

"What do you think you are doing!?" said the unmistakable voice of Lucius Malfoy. Remus and Tonks lunged for the fireplace but just before they completely entered, he heard the sound of a spell whizzed towards him and hit just above Harry's head. The sack left Remus's hand and started to fall. Harry felt as though he was flying but soon he hit solid ground and sprawled into a heap on the floor.

"Scales!" Harry heard through the dizziness and the thumping in his skull as warm hands rested under his head. Harry managed to shake some of the dizziness to see Draco staring at him, his eyes wide with concern. When Harry overcame his headache and dizziness completely, the green light had died away and was now replaced with the normal amber flames which did not ease the tension now boiling in the room.

Mr. Malfoy frantically checked ever surface and bookshelf, mumbling about possible stolen possessions while Narcissa, who had also appeared, pulled the sack inside out and shook it. Mr. Malfoy, after concluding nothing was taken and getting the confirmation from his wife that was indeed so, summon all the house elves he owned to check ever room for anything that might have been stolen.

Harry paid little attention to this; he just stared at the innocent golden flames in the hope they might offer him that exit route just one more time.

Remus had been here, Tonks as well, which meant the order knew about him. Harry hoped that they wouldn't give up but some part of him didn't want them to try again. He didn't want them to get captured because of him.

Harry also hoped the spell that hit Remus had not hurt him. It had not been a powerful one as Lucius had not uttered an incantation, but still, he hoped he was ok.

Through his deep thoughts, Harry vaguely registered Draco gathering him up into his arms, beginning to carry him away. Even when they were back upstairs, Harry's mind was still by the hearth, staring with hope and worry in his eyes into the flames.

* * *

 **Got it done at last. It's been a rough couple of weeks but it's all good now and the chapter is ready. Hope it's alright.**

 **I've got a short break now from school so I hope to be able to write and upload more chapters soon.**


	11. Chapter 11: Thoughts and dreams

"Come on scales, I know last night must have been stressful for you but you have to eat."

Harry scowled down at Draco, the young Malfoy had not left him alone all morning and now it was driving him crazy. He was tired, moody and depressed, so all he wanted was some time alone to sort out his issues with no interruptions. This though appeared to be impossible.

" _I'm not hungry_ " Harry mumbled, trying to control his temper and hoping Malfoy would take the hint and go, but when Draco nudged his snort with a dead rat to try and prompt him to eat for the seventh time that morning, Harry properly snapped.

" _I'm not hungry ok, so just leave me alone!"_ he roared, his fangs revealing themselves as he did so, and he was pleased to see the message had finally reached Draco as he backed away with a shocked and fearful expression.

After a moment, Draco cautiously bent down to place Harry's breakfast on the nearby windowsill, his eyes never leaving Harrys. He then turned on his heel and left the room, pulling the door till it clicked shut.

Harry felt momentary pity as he thought of the downcast look on Draco's face but it was soon replaced with a surge of fresh angry. He wasn't a pet or a toy, and Draco had plenty of those to entertain him, so Harry nestled himself firmly back into his coils and resumed staring blankly out the window in front of him.

He had managed to get himself onto a three-pronged candle bracket, which decorated the walls of some of the rooms. The candles themselves had been removed for some reason but it meant that it was a perfect and safe place for Harry to rest on. It was also opposite a large window, which allowed him to stare out over the grounds and forests which circled Malfoy Manor. The open view allowed his mind to easily wander and soon he was wrapped in his own thoughts and daydreams.

Last night had been hectic and rather disappointing, but not entirely. Harry now had some of the answers to a few of the burning questions he had cooked up in his mind through his stay at Malfoy Manor. He now knew The Order did indeed know about him and that he, as a snake, was connected to his disappearance from Grimmauld Place.

He also knew that they were worried about him which, Harry thought, was stupid to doubt and he felt irritated with himself for thinking it. He supposed Mrs. Weasley was upset, Sirius was probably, once again, in a bad mood and he couldn't even begin to imagine how worried his friends were. At first, his train of thought made him feel warm inside but it was soon replaced with guilt and longing.

He wanted to be with the people he cared for the most, to be loved and comforted by those he considered to be his true family, and even though his time at Malfoy Manor could not be considered a bad experience, he was still surrounded by the people he disliked the most and was constantly plagued by the prospect of them finding out he was more than just a snake.

He may be dangerous in his current form, but without magic, he was completely vulnerable and he knew the people around him would not hesitate to attack him when they figured out he was Harry Potter.

After a while, Harry found himself feeling increasingly drowsy and he yawned widely. He had not had a lot of sleep last night and was still recovering from the lack of sleep he had brought on himself because of his nightmares. Plus on a particularly dark day like today, with the sunlight partially blocked by the overcast clouds, he felt much stiffer and weaker. It had taken him nearly an hour to get from Draco's bedroom, where he was forced to sleep after last night, to downstairs on the candle bracket. On a good day, it would have taken less than 10 minutes to do so. Draco had tried to help him of course, but Harry would always quicken his pace as much as he could and slid out of his grasp. Malfoy had given up after several attempts to pick him up but still, he followed Harry which had caused his temper to rise.

Harry also couldn't understand why he was feeling so angry again. When Voldemort was around, Harry was much calmer and almost gentle, if not in the presence of Wormtail. He had thought, at the time, it was because he was scared, which he had been, but with him around, rarely did dark thoughts cross Harry's mind. Now with him gone, Harry was once again easily irritated and had, on more than occasion, wanted to attack for the smallest things, like with Draco that morning.

His eyes drooped lower and darkness was gradually clouding his vision, making it harder and harder for him to think straight. His head slowly squashed further into his vine-like body as drowsiness slowly consumed him and soon enough, he was sound asleep.

* * *

He was staring straight ahead, his eyes fixed intently on the black door. He scanned the edges, desperate for a sign of it opening, or any imperfections or gaps where he could potentially force entry.

He frowned. The door was sealed tight with no indication of weakness.

He stared longingly, hungrily at it, wanting with all his might for it to open and reveal what lay beyond but no matter how hard he tried, it would not open.

He reached out with his right hand, his bone-white skin standing out heavily against the black, pressing it against the doors cool, smooth surface while he tried to think of what to do next.

There had to be a way to get through. If only his scar would stop burning, then he could think properly.

* * *

Harry awoke suddenly to the sound of a loud bang. It startled him so much that his grip on the candle bracket loosened and he topple sideways as he began to fall. He tired hastily to re-secure himself but it was too late. A moment later, he hit the floor with a painful smack.

Harry tentatively raised his ringing head but winced almost at once. His underside was stinging slightly like he had just belly flopped into a pool because of the laminated floor below him but he figured it would have hurt a lot more if he didn't have a protective layer of scales. He also felt strangely feverish and dizzy and had to shut his eyes to stop himself feeling sick.

Just then, Harry heard a high pitched squeak of what sounded like surprise and a moment later when he had re-opened his eyes, long fingered hands gently closed around the middle of his body. As Harry was raised from the ground, he caught a glimpse of large bat-like ears, a long pointed nose and huge glassy eyes. It was a house elf, dressed in what appeared a used flour sack.

The elf scurried to a corner of the room where the light from the window did not reach. Then, the elf gently lowered him down and Harry felt a wave of relief as his stinging underside made contact with the cool laminated floor.

Once the pain receded, he slithered gracefully under the elf's legs, which made it squeak again, over to a rug in the centre of the room. He may have appreciated the cold surface while in pain, but his new form was still not overly ok with being in the cold for long. Harry then curled himself comfortably into a spiral and lifted his gaze to the elf, which was looked at him apprehensively.

"I'm sorry," the elf said quickly, "Wrinkly was just coming to see if he left his duster was in here and opened the door a little too hard and it hit one of the master's cabinets."

So that was the source of the noise. Harry looked over to see the door was indeed rammed up against a cabinet that was on the other side of the door. He then looked back at the elf which was cowering slightly. To reassure the now dubbed 'Wrinkly', Harry leaned forwards and nudged the elf's hand. Wrinkly flinched but did not back away and soon was rubbing the top of Harry's head. When Wrinkly stopped, Harry looked up and saw that the elf was eyeing him with a confused look.

"You are different," the elf said abruptly and Harry was taken aback.

'What does he mean?' Harry thought and he titled his head to try and make the elf elaborate.

"You're gentle and kind, nothing like Wrinkly would have expected for a snake of the dark lord" Wrinkly explained.

"And your magically powerful aura, it's almost like your-" Harry waited for the elf to continue with baited breath, suddenly anxious for whatever else he wanted to say.

But the elf did not continue. He simply shook its head and stretched out the hand that he hadn't been using to rub Harry's head, out in front of him. Harry instinctively smelt the air and the scent of dead rat came to him. Sure enough, Harry's forgotten breakfast rolled out of the elf's hand and, forgetting his earlier refusal for it, he latched onto it.

As Harry ate, he dimly registered Wrinkly make his way across the room and by the time he had swallowed and the rat had gone down, Wrinkly was gone.

Harry was about to go after him, using the elf's lingering scent, panicked that the elf had realised there was something different about him when he suddenly remembered his dream.

It had been a while since he had dreams about dark corridors and the un-opening door. In Voldemort's presence, he hadn't had them at all, but that wasn't the thing that worried him, it was that white hand.

Harry did not have hands currently and even in his true form, they were not stark white. He knew whose hand that belonged to, it was Voldemort's hand, and there was no denying it because who else had a hand like that.

Harry gulped as an intense wave a sickness came over him and he felt slightly feverish again. He didn't know what the dream meant or why he was having them again, but he knew it couldn't mean anything good. Plus, with Wrinkly potentially suspicious of him, he was starting to think that his experience of Malfoy Manor may not turn out so good after all.

* * *

 **Hi, sorry it has been so long. I had a bit of trouble writing this chapter but hopefully, it's alright now.**

 **I'm so grateful for all the comments that people have written and I am glad people are enjoying this story and want more. :)**

 **I'll be writing the next chapter soon but I have no idea when it will be uploaded.**

 **;D**


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